Suddenly Google's Stock Quotes Look Different

We search on stock tickers a lot. So we couldn't help but notice when Google changed how it serves up search results about stock quotes.

It's cleaner and simpler, mimicking the look of Google+ and other refreshed Google services. A Google blog post Wednesday announced a redesign of several search features, though it didn't talk about stock quotes in any detail.

The stock-quote feature previously included a host of links to other financial-news websites. It now links to just Google Finance, Yahoo Finance, and MSN Money. Links to AOL, CNN, and Reuters stock-quote pages have been dropped.

While Google has updated how the stock quotes appear in search results, it hasn't done much with Google Finance, which has looked the same for years. As a standalone service, Google Finance is basically moribund, having been folded into Google's larger search service. It's the rare example of a failure by Google to enter into a search-related market.